Germany is to choose its next president on Wednesday, when an electoral commission is likely to select Christian Wulff, of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, for the largely ceremonial post.
Support for opposition candidate Joachim Gauck is expected to fall short of Merkel's coalition majority backing Wulff, while a third candidate, Luc Jochimsen, can only count on fringe votes from the Left Party, DPA reported.
The 1,244-member Federal Assembly, which chooses the president, consists of the lower house of parliament and a matching number of representatives picked by 16 federal states.